Speculation
by Salome Sensei
Summary: This collection offers "What If" fic experiments in pre-canon and post-canon SessKouga yaoi scenarios. Tone may vary from loving to angsty. Read my "Sesshoumaru and Kouga: The Teen Years" if you prefer comedy. Adults only, please.
1. Perfect Dance

Introduction: If you've read any of my collection "SessKouga: The Teen Years" (right here on FFnet), you know I have a fondness for a playful and very sexual relationship between Sesshoumaru and Kouga. They are both arguably longlived youkai, so perhaps there is a complex pre-canon story of star-crossed youkai canine royalty. And though in the canon timeline they have no relationship, who knows if apathy is a clever disguise for late-night rendezvous within a secret alliance between the Mountain Wolf Tribe and the Western Lands ("Perfect Dance," below). And what of the future, far beyond canon, when the mortals they know and even the hanyou are gone (see Chapter 2, "Last Request")? I offer this collection (that will grow as inspiration strikes) as a thought experiment in SessKouga _What If_.

Perfect Dance

Author's Note: Written for LJ Comm **Iyhedonism**'s prompt "captivate."

I never would have believed that one day the mangy wolf I enjoy calling "Skirtboy" would be equally known as a skirt-chaser. We are entirely bonded and entirely dissimilar. I keep myself to myself and always have, except of course where he's concerned. I say little about it, but then, I'm not given to words. Giving commands with a toneless calm is nearly all anyone hears from my lips, and I prefer it so. If anything lays me bare, it's the child who exposes my underbelly more than a history of mounting and being mounted by a beautiful black-maned wolf ever could. And oh how that wolf enjoys reminding me of such weakness, just as I taunt him remorselessly—in my quiet, arrogant way—about that jewel shard-sniffing miko bitch. "How the mighty have fallen," I say, and his riposte is quick and sharp: "And how's the little mortal girl, Daddy-sama?"

He and I both know well it was not his pack who drove me to use Tenseiga and give over a little part of my soul to Rin. On the contrary, he was the first to come to me in the dark of night while she slept on my fur and let me know he'd killed the rogues who posed as his tribefolk to divide us. And I would not hinder him from his addiction to those shards. The bond of the Mountain Wolf Tribe and the Western Lands is as strong as it ever was, back to the era when his father and mine were allies and, from all accounts, no less boisterous of lovers as we are. Though we have become experts at feigning apathy to fit the times in which we live, we are in truth bound in ways no other can match nor ever will. We are secret allies and midnight lovers, fellows in protectiveness and possession. No request is too small, no taunt too great. We share our longevity, our far-sightedness, and our love of male canine youkai flesh. Each others' flesh.

Perhaps our only true difference of opinion is the depth of our scorn for my bastard brother. Kouga takes pleasure in taunting him (largely on my behalf, though he does crave those shards), while my antipathy is more genuine. No matter: even were our disagreements of a more bloodthirsty, claw-and-fang variety, Prince Kouga and Lord Sesshoumaru would relish them as part of our long-lived, perfect dance. Wherever life takes us, he is my wolf and I am his dog.


	2. Last Request

Author's Note: At the turn of the millennium, Kouga, now a celebrity, visits a reclusive, cave-dwelling yet still arrogant Sesshoumaru. Angsty yaoi.

Last Request

Nothing could stop the passage of time, Sesshoumaru knew only too well. Humans fell away like autumn leaves, like petals pulled from flowers, like streams drying up in the sun, like melting ice. Hanyou too eventually made their way back to the earth from which they came to be born anew and yet unknown to themselves. With wide, dispassionate eyes, the great lord watched it all. Birth, death, rebirth. His senses could often tell him when one he had known well or but a little was reborn, and this soothed his solitude at times, that awareness. He never made himself known to those reincarnated beings. Let them live their little lives in peace. Even in these strange times when youkai were accepted as part of a complex global society, Sesshoumaru was a recluse. Except, of course, for the wolf.

Kouga was a trickster. He lived for the thrill, and the modern era was all thrills for the ookami. Where Sesshoumaru eschewed human contact, Kouga relished it. He was Olympic athlete cum entrepreneur cum celebrity. His unchanging beauty was a marvel; his sexual appetite was legend. Shining from massive screens in the neon glow of Tokyo and New York and in every tabloid in every country that had tabloids, Kouga was stardom made flesh. He raced through his seemingly immortal life, refusing to pause and contemplate loss. What was gone was gone, and even without the shards that once made him faster than any other being alive, he was still a force to be reckoned with in all the ways millennial culture cherished. And yet, there was always Sesshoumaru.

"Arrogant prick," Kouga scoffed, waving his hand dismissively, its claws glinting with gold-leaf. "When the hell are you going to just let yourself live?" He looked around the abode, arrayed in the comfort Sesshoumaru always cherished, yet so hidden from the world. Warm, lush furs, elegant antique goblets, garments fit for the royalty he was. But in a cave. Kouga shook his head. How ridiculous that Sesshoumaru lived more like a wolf than he.

"I live, ookami." Sesshoumaru found the wasting of words as troubling as Kouga's grotesque appearance, his hair full of shining metal wraps of gold and silver, strange bright plastic wires of pink and blue. He looked garish. Gone were his simple pelts and wolf pride. He was a beast of this wasteful, tasteless era. Sesshoumaru was not, nor would he be.

"Do you, Sesshoumaru?" He stalked the fur-covered cave floor. "Of all those we knew, you and I are the only ones left. For whatever reason, we've kept our youth and show no signs of decay." He faced the impassive inuyoukai. "Aren't you sick of being alone like this?"

Sesshoumaru did not give Kouga the benefit of a reaction. He felt the smirk rise but forced it down. The fool was so obvious. "Lonely again, are you?"

Kouga launched himself as his taunting foe. After all this time, Sesshoumaru could not resist provoking him, and he could not stop himself from being provoked. Hell yes, he was lonely. And so was Sesshoumaru, if only he'd admit it, the damned pompous ice-god. He shot out a leg to swipe and catch the inu's ankle, but Sesshoumaru lifted out of reach with practiced ease. "Damn you," the ookami spat, and poised for another attack.

As a proud creature of few words and an only child—or only pureblood child, which, to Sesshoumaru, amounted to the same thing—the demon lord was accustomed to living alone. His peace and privacy had been interrupted for short periods during his long life, most notably the era in which he had first met the damnable wolf Kouga. The days after his bastard brother had been awakened from his pinioning to the old tree, of Naraku, of Jaken, and of Rin. Of these, both only Rin's absence truly caused him pause. Yes, he had come to some peace with his half-sibling, it was true, and since he had chosen to follow his beloved miko into the unknown realm of the afterlife, Sesshoumaru had not much mourned him. But Rin, gone now far, far longer than the hanyou, had touched him. He had allowed her into his heart, and upon her death he had sworn no other would again enter.

There was, of course, no danger from Kouga. Even if they did share a selfish nature and a noble heritage (though prince of a mangy wolf tribe was far below the stature of lord of the western lands), Kouga was far too much of the world and the worldly than Sesshoumaru and, it seemed, ever would be. Occasional forays to pick up necessary supplies and garments befitting his stature were one thing; popular stardom was quite another. With a deft and easy flick of his wrist, he had Kouga by the scruff of the neck and then flat on his belly, elegant boot in the small of his back.

"You're such an unbearable prick," Kouga told the thick fur beneath him.

"Unbearable?" Sesshoumaru replied, voice showing not a hint of the amusement he felt at the wolf's absurd response. They both knew what Kouga's visits were for, at base…and base was just the word for it. He prodded the slender back that he knew was soft and tan beneath his clothes and was disappointed when there was no response. He lifted his foot and kicked Kouga's legs apart. The wolf let himself be maneuvered with only a low groan. Damn it. This wasn't how the game was played. If both dog and wolf weren't covered with blood before Sesshoumaru fucked him raw, something was wrong. "Get up," he grunted, toeing his slutty ass.

Kouga shook his head full of metal and plastic into the furs. "This sucks, dog."

Sesshoumaru quirked an arched eyebrow in barely perceptible fashion. "Indeed?"

Kouga turned his head to the side but otherwise lay still. "Don't you get it, Sesshoumaru? I'm done. I'm sick of this. This life. This relationship. This stupid cave. The fighting, the fucking."

Sesshoumaru folded his arms and looked down at the self-pitying ookami. He could not say he hadn't felt the same, that even now he didn't wonder if perhaps the usual fight should be ramped up to swords by which they could simply kill one another. Life simply went on and he went on with it, in his way, on his terms. He thought the wolf did the same. "Shall I unsheathe Bakusaiga, then?" He had not spoken the sword's name in many years nor touched it in many more.

Kouga rose onto his knees and nodded his over-coiffed head. "Yeah. Fuck. Yeah, take me out, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru made a small sound of assent and swallowed down the hint of feeling that rose like poison in his throat. So. Kouga now, too. "Very well." Truly alone now, to his death…should it ever come. He turned to retrieve the weapon.

"Wait," Kouga called. "One thing first."

Sesshoumaru turned, golden eyes fixed on Kouga's blue.

"One last request, ok?"

Sesshoumaru nodded once, waiting.

"Lemme fuck you."

Sesshoumaru smiled. The feeling of the stretching facial muscles was novel to the great dog, as was the emotion that inspired it. The damned wolf. The damned tricky wolf. He got him this time, and so easily. He'd bought the depression act without a moment's questioning.

Kouga's eyes glittered, grin spreading, and then he burst out laughing. "Sonofabitch," he murmured, pointing. "That smile is almost as good as getting to fuck you."

"Which you never will, ookami. Now get back down and let's do this. Or would you like to get in a few kicks and punches first?"

Kouga snickered. "Never say never, you crazy dog."

"Never say never," Sesshoumaru echoed. Through the long night with his wolf, the smile never left his face.


	3. Believe in Me

Author's Note: For Talon. Can the past be recaptured, surpassed?

Lyrics (in italics below): "Tonight, Tonight" by Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins. Rediscovered my love for this song today and had to write this.

Believe in Me

_Time is never time at all_  
_You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth_  
_And our lives are forever changed_  
_We will never be the same_

Years later and I can still smell you in the air, my Kouga. Taste you in my mouth. You return, wild and fearless, in my dreams, and you never leave me behind. Your smile haunts me when I wake, just behind my eyes. The tang of your salt sweat, feel of taut, tan flesh, dark hair thick in my fist. Take me inside you, wolf, drain me of pretense, then fill me until tears and seed flow as one. Lick me clean like a newborn pup.

You made adolescence endurable. You helped me survive. Don't let me wake.

I know we had to grow up sometime. I just didn't think it would mean losing you.

_The more you change the less you feel_

For years, tears no longer fell from these eyes. A smile touched these lips only in derision or before a kill. Self-loathing tasted like arrogance. I grew to enjoy the pleasure of withholding, a martyr to a cause you did not know existed. My Kouga, leading his own pack, still wild but no longer mine. We crossed paths. I felt nothing. A mantra of emptiness.

_Believe, believe in me, believe_  
_That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain_  
_We're not the same, we're different tonight_

How is it we return to the same path when the moon's sliver is high? We come alone but together. Your blue eyes shine in the night. They lure me. Stripped of your clothing and feigned apathy, how can I do less than strive to match your bravery?

_We'll crucify the insincere tonight_  
_We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight_  
_We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight_  
_The indescribable moments of your life tonight_

Let me echo your laugh that mocks the past and the future. Let my hands find your every secret place as easily as you find mine. You demand to be known anew. I remember you, my Kouga: the taste of you, the meat of you, the need of you. I believe.

_The impossible is possible tonight_  
_Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight_

Let me be the boy you loved again, tonight.


	4. Alpha to Alpha

Summary: Kouga contemplates his role in Sesshoumaru's life, pre-canon to canon. Rated T. Originally written for the "Denial" prompt at LJ Comm **Inuyasha-et-al**. (Placed 2nd)

Alpha to Alpha

It was easy when we were young, wasn't it, dog? Spoiled alpha whelps we were, precocious prince and little lordling, brought together to play while our powerful fathers negotiated their alliance. Mountain Ookami and Western Inu signed a peace treaty as two royal pups sniffed out their own pact.

"Are those stripes painted on or are they forever?"

"Is that a real tail?"

"How come you wear so much clothes?"

"How come you sleep in a cave?"

"You wanna wrestle?"

"Your hair is so dark and thick. You smell good."

"Your eyes are bright like the sun."

It was easy to bond, hard and fast. Your reserve met my boisterousness. My wildness met your control. Friendship flared, and we offered a lifetime of promises in a summer's short stay. Allies forever, trust and affection, alpha to alpha, heir to heir.

But childhood passed, as it does. We never repeated that summer's visit. We both lost our fathers young and assumed power we were perhaps not ready for. I found confidence in jewel shards that gave me speed and the illusion of invulnerability. From afar, I watched as you tangled with your father's legacy in the form of a hanyou brother and swords made of fang.

When at last we met again, my pride made me deny our bond. I did not acknowledge our past when my followers grew dismayed at our imminent meeting. And when we faced one another, you strode past me without pause, stiff on your determined path to a future that offered no place for a childhood ally.

In that brief moment, I glimpsed the sunlight in your gaze and breathed you in. How I missed the scent of you, Sesshoumaru. Our lives were entwined and yet we pretended otherwise and walked away. Were I less a coward, I would have broken the silence, as I do now in my mind, over and over.

What does it mean that you saved the life of the child my pack attacked? Though it was not my claws that rent her flesh, could you smell me there? What part did I play in her resurrection?

And what of your brother? Can you fail to notice that I leave my scent upon him at every fight? I may lust for those shards his miko finds, but surely you know my taunting of Inuyasha is a gift to you, reaching my hand out to hold yours again.

I lack your dispassion, your patience, your resolve. I long for answers to questions that do not seem to plague you. I long to matter to you once more. But I am still that wolf whose smell you once craved, whose tail you longed to touch. And so I will go on leading and living my long life. I can wait, as long as it takes for us to be reunited, alpha to alpha, heir to heir.


	5. Are They Bathing Again?

Author's Note: Written for LJ Comm **Fanfiction Bakeoff**'s "Tangle" prompt. Just a little teen tidbit where Sesshoumaru and Kouga find the joys of shared grooming, one more way into SessKouga luv.

Are They Bathing Again?

Sesshoumaru was tender-headed. Everyone who knew him knew it. Throughout his childhood, his mother indulged him, combing his long, silver hair with wide-toothed combs of exquisite design, slowly and patiently, every day. As he grew, his father grumbled and complained, rolling his eyes and threatening to chop it off if his precious one true son and heir didn't keep that silken mass from becoming such a tangled mess.

Then came his adolescence and along with it came salvation from his mother's pampering and his father's provoking. To the kingdom of the West came the King and Queen of the Mountain Wolf Tribe, along with their young son, Prince Kouga. From their first visit, he became Sesshoumaru's true friend and, soon after, his inseparable companion, particularly in bathing. They would run to the hot springs and soak together, talking of glorious futures of power and conquest, then take turns combing each other's hair with great pleasure. Long sunlit afternoons or dark raining evenings, the long-maned canine duo found an ecstasy of shared grooming that neither recognized for anything but devoted friendship.

"Are they bathing again?" Sesshoumaru's father groaned.

"At least his hair isn't full of knots," his mother answered.

"How long before they recognize this courtship for what it is?" the Lord of the West queried.

"I give it six months, maximum," replied his Lady. "But you're going to be the one to tell them they can't get married."


End file.
